Next week, J.R. and I are heading to Las Vegas to partake in the annual bike industry pilgrimage that is Interbike. It’s been many years (five I think) since I last made the trip, so I thought it was long overdue.
I’ve been to Interbike many times in the past. I worked booths as a customer service/sales guy for Chris King Components, as the marketing guy at Old Man Mountain pannier racks, and most recently as an independent PR/marketing consultant (the job I ditched to do this blog full time).
I’ll have four full days at the show (one at the Outdoor Demo) and I’m not sure what type of stories and photos I’ll come back with. I’ll try to cover a wide range of stuff, but here are some categories I’ll focus on:
- Portland people represent! I’ll find as many Portlanders as I can and share what they’re up to.
- Celebrity sightings: Why not!?
- E-bikes: 2011 is likely to be a big year for all types of bikelectrification.
- Family biking: How are U.S. vendors dealing with our silly regulations, over-bearing safety culture, and so on.
- Fashion: Momentum is doing there big fashion show, so I’ll be there to see what’s hot in cycle chic.
- Cargo bikes: Longtails, box bikes, and more.
- The commuter/urban riding renaissance: Who’s making what for urban riders.
- Advocacy: What is the industry doing to help make bicycling a more respected part of America’s transportation system?
- Racing machines: My camera (and heart) can’t resist the sexy, lightweight, high-performance side of bicycling
- Random: The weird, cool, and strange people and stuff you find in the back aisles.
We’ll be in Vegas from Tuesday to Friday. For those of you who aren’t into Interbike-related coverage, don’t fret. I’ve got regular, Portland bike news stories lined up as well.
If you have particular products or trends you’d like me to report about, let me know in the comments.